A district court dismissed environmental groups’ challenge to the International Development Finance Corp’s (DFC’s) 2020 rule exempting itself from the Sunshine Act. The groups challenged the rule under the APA and the Sunshine Act itself, and sought an order declaring the DFC subject to the Su...
Seventy phosphogypsum stacks are scattered throughout the United States, concentrated in low-wealth and Black, indigenous, and people of color communities. These radioactive waste heaps have a long history of failures, and present a substantial hazard and unreasonable risk of harm. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should swiftly move to regulate these environmental and public health hazards. This Article examines the regulatory failures that have given rise to the proliferation of phosphogypsum stacks in vulnerable communities and sensitive environments in the United States.
This Article discusses how disparate environmental burdens can be addressed using environmental justice (EJ) screening tools. It identifies states that have developed state-specific EJ screening tools, analyzes these tools’ functions, and identifies strategies to overcome resistance to them. The authors conducted interviews with multiple stakeholder groups to understand how state-specific screening tools are used, and make a series of recommendations for states to follow as they proceed in their efforts to develop EJ screening tools.
A district court dismissed as moot a lawsuit seeking to reinstate a permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline to cross the U.S.-Canada border. Twenty-three states challenged the president's authority to revoke the permit, arguing the permitting decision concerned only international and interstate comm...
More than 50 years ago, Franklin Kury drafted and championed an Environmental Rights Amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution. His book, The Constitutional Question to Save the Planet: The Right to a Healthy Environment (ELI Press 2021), expands upon the story of his amendment to demonstrate how its principles can be the basis for addressing climate change in the rest of the world.
A district court granted summary judgment for the Bureau of Reclamation in a FOIA lawsuit brought by a company seeking summaries of certain water transfers. The company requested a summary of transfers taking place in 2020 under the Bureau's and San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority's Long-Te...
The Second Circuit reversed in part and vacated in part a district court ruling that ordered EPA to disclose records pursuant to a FOIA request related to a former Agency official's role in pesticide policymaking. An environmental group submitted FOIA requests for the records, and EPA invoked the de...
Evaluating government programs is a relatively new idea for China’s government and policymakers. Many policies and programs continue to be evaluated based on procedural standards rather than on actual performance. This Article investigates how program evaluations and the knowledge they produce find their way into China’s environmental policy.
As in prior years, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 contains a variety of provisions setting U.S. Department of Defense priorities for energy, environmental, and natural resource issues. These include measures that represent some degree of consensus on these often-politicized topics.
A district court granted in part and denied in part NMFS' motion to dismiss a lawsuit seeking an expansion of the Service's 2008 Vessel Speed Rule to protect North Atlantic right whales. Conservation groups argued NMFS had unreasonably delayed its response to the groups' 2012 and 2020 petitions to e...